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The King is Dead

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Setting Rule: Self-Improvement

Way back here I spoke about how romance stories are about self-perfection. Buried in that post is the assumption that Savage Worlds -- like Unisystem, the RPG system I was using before switching to Savage Worlds -- allowed for players to buy off Hindrances taken at character creation with later Advances. A recent closer reading of the text showed me that isn't true, but it really should be for a setting like Regency/Gothic.

Setting Rule: Self-Improvement

Players may choose to rid characters of Hindrances by spending Advances. A Minor Hindrance costs one Advance; a Major Hindrance costs two. The GM may determine it is not possible to buy off all Hindrances in a given setting depending on sociological and technological limitations.

Self-Improvement may have different trappings depending on the setting. While psychological Hindrances like Big Mouth and Doubting Thomas may be removed by having the character simply learn better, physical Hindrances may require more consideration. In a setting with limited medical technology or magical healing, buying off One Arm may be a matter of the character learning to compensate rather than replacing the arm; in a sci-fi or fantasy setting, it may mean literally regrowing the arm.

Certain Hindrances -- Blind, Elderly, Habit (Major), and Young -- are special cases. Blind and Elderly have special compensations attached to make up for their harshness (a bonus Edge for Blind and extra skill points for Elderly); the GM may rule that buying off these Hindrances costs three Advances. Habit (Major) assumes that it may be bought off for one Advance in settings where Self-Improvement is not used; in settings where Self-Improvement is used, it costs two Advances like any other Major Hindrance. Young may not be bought off except by the passage of time; the Hindrance description already accounts for these changes.

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